Delivering outstanding video experiences over IP networks

For years, conventional service providers have built successful businesses around providing basic access for voice and data services for consumers. But to succeed in the consumer video market, they must become "experience providers" capable of providing the full range of voice, video, and data services to their customers anywhere, anytime. They must do more than simply provide a video service comparable to other options on the market: They must deliver better content, more personalization, and higher-quality multimedia experiences than their competitors. They also must prepare for the emergence of "Video 2.0," when converged networks will be used for business communications and entertainment in the same way consumers use the Internet today. Just as the Internet evolved from a repository of static published content to a communal, fully interactive exchange, so tomorrow's converged networks will need to support a wide range of user-generated content, interactive communities, and video-based applications that go far beyond the passive viewing of video entertainment.

Delivering broadcast and multicast video, on-demand media, and personalized content with a consistently high quality of experience (QoE) is no small task. To accomplish this, service providers are reassessing the requirements for their delivery infrastructures. To provide a high-quality, differentiated video experience, they must develop sound strategies for addressing the three key components of video delivery:

• Defining a high-quality video experience in the video headend including building a versatile foundation for personalized real-time on-demand entertainment;
• Preserving that experience exactly as intended from the headend to the customer home or media device; and
• Realizing that full experience once it has arrived at its destination.

Increasingly, service providers are recognizing that the inherent characteristics and capabilities of an IP network make it the ideal platform for defining, preserving, and realizing outstanding media experiences. An IP next-generation network, or IP NGN, can provide the intelligence and application-awareness needed to optimize the delivery of media of all types, as well as the scalability to provide consistent quality and capabilities as it grows from a small rollout to a mature offering serving millions of subscribers.